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Lust for Life by Lana Del Rey – New Title Tuesday

This week’s New Title Tuesday recommendation Lust for Lifeis Lana Del Rey’s follow-up to her 2015 album Honeymoon. Typically, optimism has not been a descriptor on previous releases by this singer-songwriter, but Lust for Lifereveals a hopeful and more philosophical performer.

Meaghan Garvey wrote in her Pitchfork.com review: “But her fourth full-length, Lust for Life, suggests that at its best and truest, Del Rey’s music is sublimely simple: one voice, one story, one meaning. For years, it seemed Del Rey’s artistry lay in her ability to offer herself as a concept pursued to its logical end. Lust for Life presents her as something more interesting: a great American storyteller.”

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 on August 12 and includes collaborations with performers Weeknd (“Lust For Life”), Sean Ono Lennon (“Tomorrow Never Came”), Steve Nicks (“Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems”), and A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti (“Summer Bummer”).

The title song, “Lust for Life” is catchy and representative of how her collaboration with Weeknd’s slow R&B beats complements Del Rey’s smoky vocals.

My favorite cut on Lust for Lifeis “Tomorrow Never Came” for a variety of reasons starting with the poetry, instrumentation, the pretty chord progression, and this collaboration with Sean Ono Lennon has the best melody on the album. Naturally, with Sean’s legacy there is a Beatle-esque harmonic structure and the transistion from the bridge to the last verse is reminiscent of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

But I also think “Get Free” is interesting both sonically and rhymically and his infused with 50’s Tex-Mex and Roy Orbison flavor. Anna Gaca wrote about “Get Free” in her review for spin.com: ‘This is my commitment, my modern manifesto,’ she declares, before pursuing—sigh—an extended metaphor about chasing rainbows. Lust for Lifeis hope for a cure. When the album finally cuts out on a crystalline hum and seagull calls, it really does sound like she’s headed into the horizon.

Happy Listening, Susan C.

Also by Lana Del Rey:

UltraviolenceCruel world — Ultraviolence — Shades of cool — Brooklyn baby — West coast — Sad girl — Pretty when you cry — Money power glory — Fucked my way up to the top — Old money — The other woman.